1970 Plymouth Duster Pro Stock Recreation - Miller Time—Revisited

Ed Miller’s name might not be familiar to more recent Mopar converts, but he was one of the truly dominant drivers from the 1960s era Plymouth camp. After all, Miller and car partner Kip Gunther won the very first NHRA Super Stock World Championship in 1967, as well as several other class and event titles. Ed also made waves in the long-defunct NASCAR drag racing series, and the rival AHRA sanction. As a result of that success, he was among a handful of drivers to get a factory acid-dipped ’70 A-Body in 1970, the first year of NHRA Pro Stock. Ed made the trip to pick up two cars that year, one that would be his own, and the one Bill Stiles ended up with.

2/13Original: Here’s a shot of Ed in his ’65 car at Pomona.

Though Pro Stock was new for 1970, Ed actually had a bit of an advantage, due to running in the AHRA’s Pro Super Stock class, and the NHRA’s Division 1 Super Stock circuit the previous seasons. He ran the Duster for a couple of seasons, but circumstances and changes in his factory sponsorship finally made him hang up his ‘Pro’ credentials in late 1971 for his speed shop business and IHRA sportsman racing.

3/13News: Favored to win!

As the nostalgia movement blossomed, Ed returned to the driver’s seat in another ’65 Plymouth, but his Duster had likely been his most visible car, and he decided to go ahead and recreate a version for the 21st century. “The first Duster was a great car when I finally finished it,” Ed recalls. “I wanted something I could bring to races and shows, and maybe do some bracket and exhibition racing with.”

Now, for purists, a suitable goal might have been to build a circa-correct 1970 vehicle. Ed, having lived through those days personally, decided it would be better to use some modern technology if he was actually going to pilot this thing down track at 125+ mph. While old school is cool, safety and consistency are the keys to success in the modern day, so he took advantage of some of what has happened over the last 40 years. After all, Ed has never really stopped.

10/13Interior: It’s a race car, but did the dash make you take a second look?

The body itself was a clean roller bought back in 2004, for this purpose. Ed’s background in both racing and performance equipment made this a long-term home project that took six years of spare time to finish. The body was stripped clean, and reconstructed with fiberglass parts replacing just about any removable part – hood, deck, doors, fenders, bumpers and dash. One important aspect of the overall appearance was putting the right paint on it; Bret Parker sprayed the white pearl down, then Rick Hart came back and did the graphics and lettering. It’s a good match for the original scheme.

11/13

As you can see, Ed called his car Hemi Duster back in the day, so it was an elephant lung that ended up between the front frame rails. Miller pulled some his old speed secrets, choosing a cross ram to allow for good hood clearance under the Six Pack scoop. With a Keith Black 426 block and a massaged stroker crankshaft in the bottom end. Next were “big pop” 13.0:1 CP pistons, Groden rods, a Racer Brown roller cam of unspecified measurement (maybe Ed will tell you if you decide you want him to build you the same combination), followed up with Crane and factory valve gear, in the aluminum Mopar heads ported by Glenn Smith. Ed also rebuilt the 727, using a 3,800 stall converter to get the engine breathing before launch. A 4.71 gear in a Moser housing is there for easy swaps.

12/13Engine: Ed Miller raced Hemis all of his life, so the recreation houses an all-new beast built around a Keith Black block.

The biggest change from the old days, however, was to the suspension. Again, Ed had lived through it, and decided a rack-and-pinion for torsion bars and a four-link in place of leaf springs would help the fresh package bite hard and go straight. QA1 shocks and adjustable front coil-overs aid in the dial-up, and static weight on the spindles was greatly reduced with Monocoque wheels on all for corners. A 12-point cage was installed just in case, while Ed added the gizmos to go bracket racing into the customized interior. It’s all business, but hey, you’re only in it for no more than 10 seconds, right?

Now completed, we shot the Duster during the incredible once-a-year car festival in Henderson, North Carolina, last fall, and got our action images at the Beaver Springs Nostalgia Nationals recently. The car has been a labor of love in the truest sense, and the past several months were spent getting it dialed up, now running times down in the nine-second range. On balance, while some may think he should have gone more old school on a car like this, we have to say that anybody with credentials like Ed’s can do whatever they want. It’s Miller time again...

[The original Duster] was pretty well-built, so unless it got totally destroyed, I think it is still out there in a barn someplace. —Ed Miller

Engine: For Ed, whose racing was done almost exclusively with Hemi power from 1965 on, there was no real decision about how the spark plugs would go into the heads. Years of experience led him to build a 7,000-rpm red line aluminum block package with massaged aluminum Mopar heads and a Super Stock-era cross ram that hosts a pair of 770-cfm Holleys that Ed reworked for the combination. MSD, Optima, Mopar and Champion juice it, with Hookers sending the sound out; Barry Grant fuel pumps push race-grade go-fast to the carbs, with a Charlie’s oil pan keepin’ it all slick with seven quarts from Quaker State.

Differential: The Moser setup is bullet proof, and selected for ease of gear ratio pumpkin swaps. A 4.71 ring is presently in the car for quarter-mile passes.

Horsepower and Performance: about 700 horsepower, that has run a best of 9.29 at 140 so far in quarter-mile

Sure Grip

Suspension: Ed chose several adjustable suspension aids, including QA1 shocks, a four-link, and a front rack-and-pinion with A-arms. In addition to getting the car down track straighter, a lot of weight was also removed.

Brakes: Big discs up front are balanced with heavy duty rear drums.

Wheels: Modern is what we consider the Monocoque rims, with Moroso drag rubber up front and ubiquitous 14x32 M/T slicks in the rear.